Derrick must bear full responsibility – Minister Patterson on brother’s arrest in Grenada

On Monday, Derrick Patterson, the brother of Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, was remanded in Grenada.
A visitor there, he was accused of possession of cocaine.
Patterson was nabbed by the Drug Squad after a total of 2.325 kg of Cocaine with a street value of $232,500 was found in his possession last week.
The accused who is a Valuation Supervisor by profession, appeared before Chief Magistrate Tamara Gill at the St. George’s No. 1 Magistrate’s Court represented by Guyanese Attorney-at-law, Darshan Ramdhanny.
Officers attached to the Drug Squad of the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) intercepted a vehicle driven by Patterson and travelling in the vicinity of Springs on May 2.
The vehicle was searched and the drugs were found inside a plastic bag.
Yesterday, Minister Patterson in a statement, expressed shock at the arrest and said that his family is deeply distressed. He said that his brother must take responsibility.
Below is the full statement of Minister Patterson:
In light of the arrest of my brother, Derrick Patterson in Grenada, I wish to make the following statement:
Members of my family were shocked to learn of Derrick’s arrest. My mother, my sisters and I are deeply distressed and concerned and are anxious to learn the full details of this unpleasant development.
Our position is that Derrick is a matured adult of 47 years and he must bear full responsibility for the consequences of his actions. Neither I nor any other member of my family can take responsibility for his own, deliberate actions.

Minister David Patterson

While we hold out hope that there may have been a mistake, he must face the consequences if he is found guilty in a court of law. We have no reason to believe that he will not be treated fairly by the Grenadian legal system.
As a family, we will give him all support we legally can, but we will not condone any proven illegal conduct. I believe that every reasonable member of the public would understand our position.
As a Minister of Government, I would like to assure the Guyanese public that I have not and will not attempt to influence the outcome of these serious allegations made against my brother in any way whatsoever. This is the principled position which I firmly embrace and ought to be a lesson to many under a previous dispensation who, it is widely known, regularly interfered with the course of justice in matters involving their family members, friends and even acquaintances.
To those who have already sought to exploit this matter to score political points I wish to advise that I will play no part in contributing to that effort. Their attempts are nothing more than an attempt to detract attention from the work this government has been doing to develop a prosperous Guyana.
Having provided these assurances, I do not intend to provide a running commentary on every development that follows in this matter or to respond to every attack from political detractors.
The infrastructural challenges facing this country that this coalition government inherited are real and I intend to continue to focus my energies and attention on the job I have been doing for the past 3 years on behalf of the people of Guyana – planning and building for the bright future awaiting them.
Finally I wish to thank the many members of the public across Guyana, diaspora and the political divide who have reached out to me to personally offer me their support and solidarity at this sensitive time for my family and I.

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